


The Inferno and The Butterfly

by PaganKeith



Category: Voltron - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23313568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaganKeith/pseuds/PaganKeith
Summary: *An AU based off the short story of the same name.*Keith and Shiro are both apprentices for a town's two competing magicians. Keith is ordered by his master, Lotor, to discover the secret to Haggar's act called "The Butterfly."What he finds is Shiro.
Relationships: Allura/Lance, Shiro/Keith
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

This was unexpected.

Keith was standing, frozen, in the cellar of a magician's workshop, his eyes locked on the man in the cage on the far side of the room.

Keith couldn't see much of the man in the flickering candlelight, but he could feel his blood begin to boil. What kind of person—magician or otherwise—put a human being in a cage like an animal?!

"Come closer," the man croaked and Keith felt a jolt of adrenaline shoot through him. He didn't realize he had been spotted, though in retrospect, it's hard to miss a flame in pure darkness.

He crept forward, though there was no longer much use for stealth. Keith was caught trespassing, fair and square.

As he came closer, the light began to illuminate the man behind the bars, and Keith gasped when he recognized the telltale white forelock that hung heavily over the other's forehead and the pink scar that spread across his nose.

"You're Haggar's assistant!" Keith hissed in surprise, his eyes misting over. "Shiro?"

*

In this town that, in Keith's humble opinion, didn't deserve a name because it shouldn't be remembered, there were two magician rivals who performed at different theaters and loathed the other. Often, apprentices were sent out like spies, breaking into other magician's workshops and homes to try to discern the tricks behind their magic. If a magician could discredit the other, or even reveal how the trick was performed, their target would be ruined and would have to take their talents elsewhere.

Keith was one such apprentice, employed and housed by the magician known as Lotor. Lotor had travelled across the world during his time as a general in the military and on those nights he was allowed to go out on the town, he visited venues where small time magicians would perform. Lotor had notebooks upon notebooks of tricks he had stolen from these exotic sources and he had brought them here, to this useless place, and claimed them as his own.

Keith had been instrumental in bringing down other magicians, much to Keith's own chagrin, in some cases. But he felt he owed Lotor for taking him in off of the streets and caring for him, so Keith followed without question.

The two experienced great success until the witch Haggar shuffled into town and became quickly known for her trick called "The Butterfly." Her rather handsome assistant, Shiro, would stand on stage and, in a flash of smoke, would seemingly transform into a beautiful young woman named Acxa, who could be seen accompanying Haggar around town. 

Lotor was furious that someone had intruded on his territory and sent Keith to Haggar's shows to try to spot the trick, but Keith couldn't discern any. He had even broken into the theater late one night and checked the stage for trapdoors, but found none.

So, upon threat of Lotor using Keith to unveil his greatest trick—terrifyingly but aptly called "The Inferno"—Keith had broken in, desperate to discover the secret of the butterfly.

Now, Keith stood in front of Shiro's cage, confused and enraged to see that the cell had no door, and the usually elaborately dressed man was in rags that matched Keith's in filth and tears.

"I know you," Shiro said, squinting at him. "You're Lotor's assistant, right? Keith? Or was it Steven?"

"Keith," he replied, his mouth feeling oddly dry.

"Keith," Shiro repeated, closing his eyes. "I would ask what you're doing here, but I think I know."

"Right now, I'm trying to bust you out," Keith said through gritted teeth. "What's the trick to this cage? Tell me!"

Shiro merely smiled and shook his head.

"There isn't one," he said, almost sadly.

"There isn't…?" Keith looked at him, about to furiously demand Shiro stop lying and tell the truth, but looking into the man's eyes, he realized he already was.

"You're here about the butterfly, right?" Shiro asked idly, sitting down on a stool in his cell.

"I—yeah, I guess. Originally."

Shiro's eyebrow raised in amusement and hope flickered in his eyes for just a moment before going out again, replaced with something akin to caution.

"What's today? Thursday?" Shiro asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah, why? You can't tell me you get many hot dates down here."

Shiro snorted.

"Come back in two days," Shiro told him, his hand drifting between the bars and gripping Keith's shoulder firmly. "Haggar and Acxa go to the capital every Saturday. Come back then, and I'll tell you the secret of the butterfly."

*

Unless the order came from Lotor, Keith tended not to obey it.

He showed up the very next day with a wheel of cheese and some homemade bread wrapped up in cloth and unceremoniously shoved inside a picnic basket, careful to avoid being spotted as he once again picked the lock to the workshop.

He heard voices in the cellar. One of them was Shiro's, obviously. The other sounded unfamiliar but warm and decidedly feminine.

Since Haggar had all the warmth of a psychotic wasp, Keith figured the second voice belonged to Acxa.

"...not right, you know that," Acxa was saying.

"I know no such thing," Shiro said, his voice urgent. "If you can leave, you should. I'm begging you to go with these friends of yours."

"Ezor and Zethrid are my…? No. You know that's not true. We're apprentices. We don't get to have friends, Shiro."

"They want to take you away. I'm begging you to let them. I'll be fine."

"That's bullshit and you know it."

Keith crept to the top of the stairs, peering down into the darkness. There was a small red glow that flickered against the wall, but other than that, the cellar was enveloped in pure blackness.

"What if we made a deal?" Shiro asked. "If I escape, you do too."

Keith moved stealthily down the stairs before ducking into a small space behind a generator, trying to will his heart to slow down and not beat so quickly.

Acxa was holding a single red candle and the light seemed to dance between her and Shiro. His scar seemed to almost burn from it.

Acxa bit her lip.

"Fine, but you have to leave first."

Keith almost swore in surprise as there was a sudden massive racket upstairs. He clamped a hand over his mouth, the sound covered by Acxa's startled gasp.

Heavy footsteps began to fall on the stairs and Keith froze, practically willing himself to drop beneath the floor somehow.

"WHY IS THE DOOR UNLOCKED?" A hoarse voice screamed. 

Shiro's eyes widened, but Acxa merely looked confused.

"I could have swore I locked it," she muttered, not noticing the way Shiro's eyes seemed to sweep across the cellar.

Haggar entered the light's vicinity, gaunt features both lit up and shaded in a way that made her seem like a surreal villain.

"Did you lock the door?" Haggar hissed at Acxa.

"I think so. I don't really ever forget to," Acxa answered nervously.

"Then someone is snooping," Haggar said angrily. "Look around and see if you can find the mongrel responsible and bring them to me!"

Shit. Keith really didn't want to think of what would happen if he was spotted down here. At the very least, he would be arrested and jailed. At the most, he would never be seen again.

His heart beat frantically and as it did, something very strange happened.

In the space between heartbeats, there was an odd tug in Keith's chest and everything went black.

The second his heart beat again, he could see everything.

He was out on the street in front of Haggar's workshop, picnic basket swinging wildly on his arm, his eyes wide with disbelief.

A noblewoman in a pink and white Victorian dress gasped in surprise, raising her hand to her mouth.

"I almost ran into you!" She told Keith. "You came out of nowhere!"

Keith didn't quite know what to say to that except to blurt out an apology.

"It's quite alright," the woman said, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I should have been more careful and paying more attention but I, ah, was giving my escort the slip."

Just as Keith was about to tell her that he needed to get going, an angry man's voice could be heard clearly over the low, incomprehensible mumblings of the crowd.

"ALLURA! YOU BETTER GET BACK HERE FASTER THAN A GROGOLLIAN MEISTER—"

The woman giggled and grabbed Keith's hand.

"Run!" She told him, before leading him into the crowd.

They weaved past people who looked confused at the pair—a noblewoman running with a man in rags would probably be the talk of the Town for a night or two.

Allura looked back at Keith constantly, grinning widely. He highly suspected she was having the time of her life.

He was content to let her lead him, his mind still reeling from what had happened.

Somehow, in some way, he had been moved from inside the workshop to outside of it in under a second. Whatever the answer to the mystery was, Keith had the nagging feeling it had nothing to do with the sleight of hand kind of magic he and Lotor worked in.


	2. *Allura's voice* it's not kidnapping if you have fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is dragged by Allura all the way to a farm, where they are forced to take shelter in a stable with a very judge stable boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is still the same AU I promise and we'll get back to Sheith, but you KNOW I had to inject some found family softness into this.

Keith and Allura found themselves huddled together in a leaking stable, a stable boy's cloak thrown over both of their heads as the owner paced back and forth in front of them, lecturing them as if they had caused the sudden downpour themselves.

"You break in here and to do what, huh? You think you can just bring a pretty girl into my family's stable like it's nothing?! Only I can do that!"

Ah. Well maybe it was just Keith the boy was lecturing.

"Please, we weren't going to do anything," Allura said kindly. "The rain caught us off guard. We were headed to my estate."

"We were?" Keith asked, dazed. 

"Where did you think I was taking you?" Allura asked him.

"Honestly, I didn't really think about it. You kind of just grabbed me and ran."

"I suppose I did," Allura said, biting her lip. "I don't even know your name."

"I'm still here, you know," the boy pouted.

"My name's Keith," Keith said, pointedly ignoring the stable boy.

A difficult feat, since now the boy was much closer, peering at his face curiously.

"Hey, I know you!" The boy exclaimed. "You're that magician's apprentice! Lotor, right? My sister has a crush on him—or at least she did until she got a glimpse of that girl in Haggar's act. She won't shut up about her."

"Acxa," Keith supplied.

"Yeah, that's the one."

Allura took a deep breath before turning to the stable boy.

"I should thank you for the cloak and shelter," she said, smiling brightly at him. "What's your name?"

"The ladies call me Lance," he winked at her.

"I...see," she said, sounding mildly disgusted. "And what do the men call you?"

"I've got a couple of ideas," Keith mumbled.

"Hey!"

"Regardless," Allura said, obviously willing herself to be polite, "thank you for your hospitality, Lance."

Lance nodded, his face softening.

"Like I was going to let either of you get soaked," he said.

"About that…" Keith said. "I actually have to be getting back. Lotor will be furious if he finds out I'm missing."

"You don't have a show tonight, do you?" Allura asked, her eyebrow furrowing.

"No, but I have rehearsal. We have a new trick that we need to practice."

Allura leaned forward with interest, but Lance's eyes narrowed and he pulled Keith abruptly to his feet.

"Hey if you need to get back to town, I'm your guy! I've got an old cloak around here somewhere and Stella can take us into town, right Stella?"

Stella turned out to be the family donkey and she did her best supporting all three of them as they headed first to Allura's estate.

Lance had offered Allura to ride directly in front of him, but she refused and volunteered Keith for the position instead. Lance may have grumbled a bit about it but shut up when she expertly climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms loosely around his waist.

Keith was feeling mixed; while he didn't much appreciate having Lance's arms on either side of him, he also was grateful they were there. For starters, he had never ridden a donkey and couldn't figure out how to keep his body balanced; secondly, Lotor was not a very physically expressive man. Before Shiro's shoulder squeeze yesterday, the last time Keith had been touched had been when his father was still alive. In the last twenty-four hours, an attractive man had gripped his shoulder, a beautiful woman had held his hand and huddled with him for warmth without question, and now he had a stable boy's arms on either side of him. It was like everywhere these three had touched him burned with an odd intensity that Keith couldn't describe.

Lance rested his chin on Keith's shoulder and hissed when Keith startled a little in surprise.

"Quit that, I'm trying to see around your mullet."

"Maybe you should have been up front then," Keith retorted.

"Boys," Allura said sharply. "We're here."

Allura's estate was massive and sprawling. Pink flowers erupted from the soil and covered the gentle hills that led up to a large mansion with towers that seemed to hold up the sky. A well-worn cobblestone path led all the way to the front steps, right in front of which was a large fountain. When they got close enough to it, and while Lance was helping Allura dismount, Keith peered at it curiously.

The bottom tier held five lions of different colors—red, blue, yellow, green, and black—with their mouths open and water spouting out in simple arches.

The top tier was dominated by a single knight, his shield decorated with the lions' faces and colors.

"Do you like it?" Allura asked, coming to stand next to him, her dress sleeve poking out slightly from beneath an extra cloak of Lance's. "My father was in a special group in the King's army. He fought alongside four of the greatest knights. Our land was given to us as a thank you for his service."

Keith didn't have time to respond before the doors were thrown open and a man with the same white hair as Allura's and similar facial tattoos appeared.

"Allura! Where have you been?! Coran said you were separated in town—"

"I'm alright, Father," Allura assured him, smiling. "I ran into a couple of gentlemen who gave me a ride."

The man looked at Keith and Lance for the first time, smiling gently. 

He took in their cloaks and nodded.

"Farmers, huh? I appreciate you bringing my Allura home unharmed."

Keith and Lance mumbled, "of course," keeping their eyes peeled to the cobblestones.

"It was nice meeting you, Keith and Lance," Allura said and the boys raised their eyes to meet her gaze. "Thanks for everything!"

She turned to climb the steps with her father, still wearing Lance's cloak.

"Alright, magic boy, you're next," Lance said, turning to Keith. "This time, you ride behind me. I didn't know that you had that much hair until I was trying to see around it."

"Will you shut up about my hair?!"

The ride back to town was virtually silent, the boys choosing instead to listen to the heavy rain as it fell around them.

The sun was beginning to set and Keith began to worry about how Lotor would react to him returning this late.

"So," Lance said suddenly, "before I never see you again—probably—mind telling me what's up with those bandages?"

Keith winced. He had become so used to wearing them on his hands and arms that he had almost forgotten that this wasn't considered normal.

"Just... cuts. That's all. Part of the job," Keith said hurriedly.

"Yeah, I don't buy that," Lance said in a borderline singsong voice.

"Sometimes, I... don't perform so well. So Lotor gives me incentive."

"Lotor did that to you?" Lance's brow furrowed and his hands twitched, almost as if he was going to tug on the reins and force them to go in the opposite direction.

Instead, he took a deep breath.

"Listen…" he began, "if you ever need to, you know, take shelter again, you can at my stable."

Keith's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hair.

"I can?"

"Yeah, well, I think Stella likes you, is all," Lance said, patting the donkey's side fondly. "Just make sure to keep my cloak so she'll recognize my smell and it should be fine."

They stopped in front of the theater, Lance looking torn.

"Remember what I said," he told Keith as the apprentice dismounted.

"I will."

Keith watched him ride away, his mind racing with a million different questions.

*  
Lotor was, as Keith suspected, incredibly angry.

"Every second we can devote to rehearsals, we must!" Lotor scolded him. "We are hemorrhaging money thanks to that blasted witch and her butterfly scam!"

He stopped in front of Keith, his nose mere inches away.

"Have you discovered her secret yet?" He demanded.

Unbidden into Keith's mind came the memory of suddenly appearing in front of the workshop, but he filed it away.

"No, I haven't." 

"Then you've failed me."

The words stung more than Keith was ready to admit.

"We'll have to move forward. We'll begin rehearsing the Inferno."

"I'll die," Keith's mouth was dry.

"Be glad you've been able to live at all," Lotor sneered, before turning on his heel.

Keith sighed before following him.

The Inferno was a terrifying trick: Keith would be suspended above a box filled with flames and then dropped into it. A lid would snap shut and he would be trapped inside. He wouldn't have long to make his way out of the locked false back before smoke inhalation and a lack of oxygen would doom him.

If they could pull off the trick successfully, Lotor would be a legend; if not...

Keith really hated to think about it.


End file.
